From a features point of view the GIGABYTE P55A-UD6 is outstanding. Support for the latest technologies including SATA 6 Gb/second, USB 3.0, SLI and CrossfireX make this board the choice of the enthusiast wanting the latest and greatest technologies from a P55 chipset motherboard. Performance is right on par with the P55-UD6 in terms of motherboard performance and performance of the SATA 6 Gb/second interface is higher than the competition which requires a bridge chip to offer full support for the new interface. The one downside is if you are using the SATA 6 Gb/second and or USB 3.0 to its fullest SLI and CrossfireX are disabled.

The news of Intel's $7.68 billion acquisition of McAfee was a bit of a surprise to many of us, and the vague justifications both sides offered for the deal largely focused on the proliferation of mobile devices. However, I couldn't help but think of another implication of this acquisition for the traditional PC market. Buying McAfee instantly makes Intel one of the leading perpetrators of the pay-for-play bloatware model that infects brand-new PCs from nearly all of the major vendors with heaping amounts of unnecessary software.